This invention relates in general to content distribution and, more specifically, to improving quality of service (QOS) when distributing content on the Internet.
There is a desire to provide large content files over the Internet. While transferring such large content files is possible, the Internet is incapable of assuring a constant minimum transfer rate. Without assuring a constant minimum transfer rate, the Internet cannot provide adequate QOS. Streaming video and audio are examples of large content files requiring transfer at a constant minimum rate to assure adequate QOS. In general, the Internet is a poor network for transferring these types of content files because of the data quality loss at each of several potential hops, because of the limited bandwidth of most transmissions, and because the Internet simply was not designed to stream data for long time periods at a constant data rate.
Various schemes have been employed to provide adequate QOS during transfers of content files over the Internet. One example is load balancing. In general, load balancing involves directing content file transfers such that various nodes on the Internet are involved in similar levels of transfer activity. While this scheme alleviates transfer degradation or even failure related to an overloaded node, it does very little to assure QOS between a content file source and a requester. Thus, it is desirable provide adequate QOS during transfer of content files.